Jennifer Kohl

Boylan, Chrissy. (2015, January). Trying to quantify teen suicide. The Washington Post. Retrieved from __https://www.washingt onpost.com/news/parenting /wp/2015/01__
__ /14/trying-to-quantify-teen-suicide__

Boylan describes a night where she had to go to the high school in the school district that her children attended. She had to listen to experts speak about teenage suicide. While Boylan states that she does not want to attend this presentation, she goes because she feels it is important in order to protect her children. She original though that the presentation was going to be all about creating a sense of urgency among the parents, however, this is not want she found to be the case. The presentation was full of jokes and fast banter. This helped the audience stay present. The presents’ main point was that there is no one clear way to prevent suicide or self harm. There are so many different reasons that a teen struggles, so it is important that parents make it a point talk about mental health with their children. Boylan concludes that parents should not sugar coat mental health.

These sorts of presentations are important because parents should be armed with all the information that could prevent suicide and self harm, This article stresses the fact that teens struggle with mental health for so many different reasons. There is no one clear way to deal with a struggling teens problem. It is important that a parent talks openly about all aspects of mental health with their child. This, hopefully, has the potential to prevent any sort of tragedy. Also if a parent is open from the beginning, their child may feel more inclined to talk to them when they are experiencing a problem. If parents are armed with all of the facts, they may be able to prevent something from happening to their child. Educating parents is important in combating self harm and suicide among teens.


Rosenberg, Merri. (1993, June). A therapeutic program for troubled students. The New York Times, Retrieved from __http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/27 /nyregion/a-therapeutic-__
__program-for-troubled-students.html__

From an academic perspective, West- Prep is set up like a regular high school. This school, however, is far from regular. Students that attend West- Prep struggle with psychiatric disorders and substance abuse problems. This school provides students with many different options of therapy, along with a full curriculum. Students must be referred by their private or hospital therapist in order to get into this school. These students come from a very diverse background. Some are from extremely wealthy, whereas some are from impoverished areas. The main goal of this school is to motivate students to graduate high school and continue their education. Moreover, this school wants to established independents within their students. Thus far, this school has been successful in helping troubled students and creating independent and successful people.

The treatment offered in this school seems to work really well. It is important that students that are struggle with psychiatric disorders and substance abuse problems find a place that can help them be successful. This school emphasizes the importance of their students staying academically motivated while seeking help for the problems. This school helps students acknowledge that they have a problem, but it does not let their students use it as a excuse. Programs like this should help students get through the problems without de-emphasizing the importance education. A combination of therapy and a full academic workload seems to be very successful.


Baksheev, G. N., Robinson, J., Cosgrave, E. M., Baker, K., & Yung, A. R. (2011). Validity of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in detecting depressive and anxiety disorders among high school students. Psychiatry Research, 187(1/2), 291-296.doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2010.10.010. Retrieve from http://search.proquest.com.uri.idm.oclc.org/psycinfo/docview/868227050/83CD2A53B2DB49BEPQ/1?accountid=28991


The 12- item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) is used to test the mental stability of adolescents. Although there is not a great deal of data to support the validity of this test, it is still widely used. This study was conducted in order to test the validity and accuracy of this test among high school students. This test is suppose to test anxiety and depression within high school students. Through this study, the researchers found that the GHQ-12 was fairly accurate and had the ability to measure the levels anxiety and depression within teens. If a student is found to have some sort of mental illness through this test, they are hopefully given more tests in order to help them.

The GHQ-12 is important because it helps teachers and administration evaluate the mental stability of their students. The research found through this experiment shows that this test is fairly accurate and has the potential to help students that are struggling with mental disorders. It is important for schools to know the mental state of their students in order to help them and provide them with needed resources. If a mental illness is discovered earlier on in an adolescent's life, then maybe they can receive more help and not let it effect them on a day to day bases.



Simon, D. J. (2016). Advantages of mental health work in schools. School-centered
interventions: Evidence-based strategies for social, emotional, and academic success.
(pp. 17-27) American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.uri.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/14779-002. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uri.idm.oclc.org/psycinfo/docview/1732322797/5732A2E44DAD4395PQ/2?accountid=28991

In this chapter of Advantages of Mental Health Work in Schools, Simon examines how effective therapy is within a classroom setting. Simon discuss how important it is for children to have resources within their schools. Schools are now starting to provide better psycho-education and resources that increase student’s social- emotional health. Simon explains that although schools are starting to provide better mental health education, there is still more that can be done. Students and families should have more access to any kind of therapy that they may need. It is troublesome that these services are beginning to be taken away because lack of funding. Schools need to revise budgets in order to provide each student with the necessary care.

Simon brings up many good point in the chapter. Schools should have a much bigger emphasis on promoting social and emotional health, Students and families should be provided with all the resources that they may need in order to be successful. Students should be taught how to promote self help amongst their peers and it is important that mental illness is de-stigmatized within schools. It is unfortunate that with budget cuts, schools have to decrease their funding for mental health resources. Schools should emphasize the importance mental health resources and make it their top priority.


Tanner, J. (2004, February 6). Mental illness medication debate. CQ Researcher, 14, 101-124. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/
As more is being discovered about the brain, researchers are able to develop new drug that are able to treat mental illness. Drug companies now produce massive amounts of products that can help treat all different kinds of mental illness. These drugs are become more effective and are better for treating mental illness. There are a few problems with these drugs, however, first being, they are much more expensive. They also make it so fewer people actually receiving treatment for their mental illness, which is important in becoming mentally stable.

Although these drugs have the ability to help people, it is important that people remain cautious about them. Drug companies rarely have the consumer's best interest in mind. They price their drugs extremely high and do not always warn against the side effects. Moreover, it is important that people who are struggling with mental illness seek therapy along with medication because it is important to be monitored while on medication.